The presently claimed and disclosed inventive concept(s) relates generally to pharmaceutical and nutriceutical products, and, and more particularly to improved encapsulated pharmaceutical and nutriceutical bioactive agents and methods of their production and methods of their use.
It is often desirable for an orally consumed pharmaceutical or nutriceutical bioactive material to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the wall of the small intestine or large intestine. The delivery vehicle which contains the bioactive agent must be able to pass intact through the stomach and must remain intact in the lumen of the small intestine in order to be passed through the intestinal mucosa and deliver the bioactive agent into the blood stream. Enteric coatings are frequently used to encapsulate oral dosage forms to prevent damage to the active substance contained in the oral preparation by acids and enzymes in the stomach. Enteric coatings are used for example for preventing gastric enzymes from reacting with or destroying the active substance, preventing dilution of the active substance before it reaches the small intestine, ensuring that the active substance is not released until after the preparation has passed the stomach, and preventing damage to the bioactive agent because of the low pH in the stomach.
Enteric coatings can also be used for avoiding irritation of or damage to the mucous membrane of the stomach caused by substances contained in the oral preparation, and for counteracting or preventing formation or release of substances having an unpleasant odor or taste in the stomach. Finally, such coatings can be used for preventing nausea or vomiting on intake of oral preparations.
The lumen of the small intestine and the blood vasculature of the intestinal mucosa are ideal dissolution targets for a wide variety of bioactive pharmaceutical and nutriceutical compounds, presuming one is able to overcome its characteristics of impermeability through the intestinal wall. It is to providing such encapsulated pharmaceutical and nutriceutical bioactive materials for optimal delivery to and absorption into the small intestine that the present invention is directed.